Necessary Repairs
by Celestrious
Summary: Pre-TFA. Signy and her friend Zinc run the droid repair center for the Resistance. A sudden influx of broken droids keep them busy especially when Poe Dameron drops by with a request for assistance with BB-8.[Work-in-progress more will be included in the future]
1. Chapter 1

A repeated clanging sound from behind her, followed by a screech was what began the work morning for Signy Enkara.

"Hey, calm down over there!" She called, letting out a long sigh and wiping sweat from her brow.

That was a popular phrase in the droid repair shop of the Resistance base. Signy began mumbling to herself, shifting through a box of parts. Of course she couldn't find what she was looking for. Zinc should've been there already, but per usual, he was running late.

"I could hear you yelling all the way down the hall." Came the familiar voice and Signy spun on her heel, narrowing her eyes and shaking a wrench at the tall, black haired boy who'd finally decided to show himself.

"Good. I'm glad." she retorted. "You know I can't do all this at once. I need you here."

"Okay, okay. I just wanted to stop and get a bite to eat."

"You could've done that earlier. Quit sleeping in so late. Are you ignorant? We're kind of at war here. People need these droids fixed and back in action."

Signy turned back to the box of parts.

"That R2 unit is going nuts over there and I can't find the right part. I'm going to let you handle it." she sighed, picking up the heavy box and dropping it in the waiting arms of Zinc.

He grinned. "Everyone's droid decided to misbehave at once, yeah?" he joked.

Signy rolled her eyes, but smiled in return. "I guess so."

Though most of the time she wouldn't admit it, Signy was glad to have the assistance of Zinc. He was smart and though he slacked off at times, he knew how to problem solve just as well as she did.

It was true though, recently it seemed like a lot of bots were out of commission. Perhaps it was due to the growing number of attacks both by and against The First Order. Signy preferred to stay out of the way in that respect. She had many reasons to hate The First Order and they weren't things she liked to discuss either.

Signy rolled up the sleeves of the olive green shirt she wore and grabbed one of the clean rags off the counter on the right side of the shop.

"Come here R2-LE!" she called and the familiar chirps of the astromech droid were heard as he came out from behind some corner of the shop.

"What were you even doing over there?" Signy asked thoughtfully and R2-LE gave a thoughtful whirling noise in return. "Alright, well, just don't knock anything over." she replied, raising her eyebrows skeptically before walking over to meet him and kneeling to wipe some of the grime off the parts of him that were supposed to be silver.

"I leave you alone for 10 minutes and you're a mess." She scolded.

"R2-LE's always a mess." Came Zinc's muffled voice and Signy laughed, continuing to wipe the droid down.

She enjoyed working with the droids. Yes, sometimes they could be a bit sassy, C-3PO certainly was an example of that when he came around for oiling, but most of the time they were more understanding than anyone else and they never asked stupid questions.

A screech erupted again from the R2 unit Zinc was attempting to repair. "Ow!" Zinc yelled, shoving his finger in his mouth. "Stop that!"

Signy gave R2-LE a quick pat and stood again, throwing the rag back on the counter she'd gotten it from and pulling a crate toward one of the BB units in deactivation mode. Her communication programming hadn't been working, according to the owner and Signy figured it was time to start tinkering.

It was nice when the shop was quiet aside from the sound of tools and occasional droid speech. It reminded her of home, or what used to be home. It'd been a while and the base still didn't quite feel like home. Zinc had helped her settle a bit. He'd arrived not long after she had and his skills had been impressive. She knew his family had been killed long ago. Zinc was younger than Signy was, not by a lot, but she was closer in age to how old his sister would've been if she was still alive. Both were happy to have each other's company. The lost have a habit of finding each other.

Signy couldn't imagine working anywhere besides the droid repair center. She often saw workers from the medical ward coming down the halls and she wondered what life was like for them. There were constantly people in and out of that place, whether patients or visitors. She'd worked on some of the malfunctioning medical droids before. A lot of them were difficult to fix, not as easy to fix as the BB or R2 units, but definitely a lot harder to break. A lot of BB and R2 units flew with pilots or were sent alongside rebels on missions. Sometimes those missions did a lot of damage. It was hard enough for Petra to see any droid in distress or disrepair, but any humanoid being? Forget it. She couldn't do it.

Unscrewing a panel of the little droid, Signy peered inside at the wiring. Already she could see the problem. One of the wires was fried. Good thing the owner had gotten her in here as soon as they had. The wire could've easily caught on fire if left for longer.

"Hey Signy could you pass me a-" Zinc's request was cut off by the opening of one of the automatic doors and both turned their gaze toward the door.

Signy instantly rose to her feet, wiping her hands on her pants and throwing a quick glance toward Zinc before pushing her sandy bangs out of her eyes and hurriedly trying to make herself presentable.

"Commander Dameron," she began, offering a smile. She wasn't sure whether to offer her dirty hand for a handshake, but when he reached out for hers, she figured it would be rude if she ignored the gesture.

"Please, call me Poe. Are you Signy Enkara? I was told you were the go-to gal for droid repair." He grinned and his bright eyes gleamed.

He shook her hand firmly, sensing her slight nervousness, or embarrassment, he wasn't sure which, and took a step back.

BB-8 followed closely behind, obviously not expecting the step back and running straight into the back of his leg.

"You see," he began. "BB-8's been having a little trouble with his liquid cable launchers. I'm no droid repair expert and I don't think he wanted me trying to tinker with him anyway." Poe laughed, all white teeth and confidence as he glanced from the girl to the droid behind him.

Signy gave a wobbly smile in return, looking down at the droid herself and crossing her arms across her chest. "Hey BB-8." she greeted and the droid chirped a shy response, peering out from behind the leg of his master.

Signy's eyes rose back to meet Poe's and she gave a quick nod. "Yeah, I'm sure we could find time to take a look at him soon if you're willing to part with him for a little while. I know you probably need him back as soon as possible, we're just a tad backed up at the moment."

A clamoring noise came from the corner of the shop where Zinc was working on the R2 unit and Signy's eyes nearly rolled back inside her head. Of course he had to embarrass both of them when a Starfleet commander was around.

Poe looked over confusedly before spotting the other droid repairman and the flash of white smile crossed his mouth again as he raised a hand in greeting. Zinc did the same, a bit more clumsily, but it was a solid recovery to the loud noises Signy had assumed were him tripping a few moments before.

"Ok BB-8, I'm going to have to leave you for a while. You'll be in capable hands though. I promise." Poe explained, kneeling next to his droid.

The droid's head turned to look at Dane and Petra knew instantly that BB-8 doubted Zinc's competence. He turned back to Poe with a sad beep.

"I know buddy. It'll be fine though. I'll come get you tomorrow."

BB-8 rolled closer to Poe and the commander stood up.

"Thanks for this. I really appreciate it. Keep up the hard work you too." He said with finality, turning and practically strutting out the door.

"'Keep up the hard work.'" Signy repeated once he was gone. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"He likes you." Zinc spit out instantly and Signy looked at him incredulously.

"Well he certainly doesn't like you! The _droid_ doesn't even trust you!" She shot back and moved to sit back down on the crate, leaning her elbows on her knees and putting her head in her hands.

She let her eyes roll toward BB-8, who was still in the place he was before, watching the door Poe Dameron had left through.

"It's ok BB-8. He'll be back soon." she explained and the droid turned to her with another sad beep. "Don't worry, I won't let Zinc touch you."

"Hey! Not ok Signy, not ok!"


	2. Chapter 2

Signy took a bite of bread, chewing it thoroughly before swallowing hard. Her throat was dry and it felt as if the bread was going to get stuck there. If only she had grabbed some water.

"Phew, it certainly is warm out today." Zinc sighed as he came to sit down next to her.

Signy had gone outside to escape the crowd in the dining hall, but it now seemed as though it would've been better to just stay inside.

"Warm is an understatement." She replied, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and glancing over to make eye contact with Zinc.

His dark skin shined in the hot light and his smile revealed white teeth.

"I think you're right about that one." he laughed, shaking his head and squinting in the sunlight.

"Do you have any water?" Signy asked him, almost coughing a bit, before lifting a hand to her throat.

"What? Bread not dry enough for you?" Zinc teased, holding up a canteen just out of her reach.

"Shut up and hand it over." she grinned, reaching for the canteen and nearly falling over his lap in the process.

"Fine, fine. I see how it is. No more complaints about me being late to work then, you hear?" He raised his eyebrows, letting Signy snatch the canteen from his hand.

"I'm afraid I can make no promises." she gasped after taking a long drink. The water was cool and trickled down her throat, taking away the dry sensation the bread had left.

Zinc's eye caught something at the lower nape of Signy's neck as she leaned forward to gather her mess of sandy hair together and tie it up on her head with what looked to be a shoelace she had had tied around her wrist. He didn't know where she found half the things she had in her possession and he'd never really bothered to ask her.

While they'd worked together for a while he was still curious about her. She certainly knew more about his past than he did about hers. Signy never seemed keen to talk about it though so he never mentioned it. This though, it looked like some sort of tattoo or brand.

Zinc quickly averted his gaze as she threw her head upwards again, the collar of her shirt covering it up. It would be rude of him to ask and he didn't want her to think he was staring. Signy was the closest thing he had to family and he wished he could be closer to her somehow. It just wasn't easy. She wasn't the most open herself and he didn't really blame her. It was difficult for him to talk about where he'd been before he'd officially joined the Resistance. He'd hoped sharing pieces of his life would allow her to open up to him, but it hadn't happened yet.

"You ready to head back to work?" Signy asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes ma'am, I most certainly am." He replied and both stood.

"Thanks for the water." She told him, holding the canteen out for him.

"You can keep it for now if you want to."

Signy shrugged and both headed back inside and down the hall. Zinc shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked. They turned a corner and the doors opened to the droid repair center.

"What are you two talking about, huh?" Signy questioned, stepping inside and walking over to BB-8 and R2-LE who seemed to be in intense conversation.

"BB-8 sharing adventures with Poe Dameron, yeah?" Zinc grinned and BB-8 gave a sound of approval.

"It sounds fascinating, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a look at those liquid cable launchers now." Signy explained, rubbing her hands together and walking past the droids toward one of the toolboxes along the counter, next to the rags. She sat down Zinc's canteen and began to rummage through the box.

BB-8 gave a disapproving whirl and looked to Zinc. He shrugged at the droid and began to head back to the corner of the shop where the R2 unit he'd been working on previously sat.

R2-LE gave the an encouraging beep to BB-8, but the little droid still seemed unsure. Signy took out a screwdriver from the toolbox and sat down on her crate, patting the ground in front of her.

"Come on BB-8, it'll be fine. I promise. Your master will be back before you know it."

Just then the automatic doors opened again and Poe Dameron stepped inside. BB-8 squealed in delight and rolled to his friend.

"Before all of us knew it..." Zinc mumbled.

"Ah, hey BB-8, good to see you again too." Poe laughed with a grin.

Signy's eyes widened and she turned to Zinc, who shook his head.

"Um…Commander Dameron, I…I haven't gotten the chance to work on BB-8 yet. We've been backed up and I-" She began, standing up and using the screwdriver to gesture to the line of deactivated droids in need of servicing.

Poe held out a hand for her to stop talking. "No, no, I understand." He glanced down at BB-8, his mouth forming a thin line before moving his gaze back to Signy. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course." Signy replied, nodding her head and following him just outside the doors of the shop.

"Look, something urgent's come up and I need to go. BB-8 usually flies with me, but I don't feel right bringing him along when he needs work done on him. I thought I'd have more time before we needed to leave, but not anymore." Poe stopped, rubbing his nose before looking Signy in the eyes. "If something happens to me I just want to make sure someone takes care of BB-8. I know you're good with droids and I know it's a lot to ask, but just on the off chance I can't come back…" His voice trailed off and Signy watched his gaze fall to the ground.

"BB-8's safe here. I promise. I'll make sure he's taken care of until you get back." she assured him.

Poe smiled at Signy. "Thank you." he replied softly.

This was a side Signy had never seen of the commander before. Granted, she didn't know him too well, but she understood. BB-8 was very important to him and she could see why. Droids were good companions and the bond between them and their masters was a strong one.

"Do you want to say goodbye to him again?"

"Nah. Just tell him I'll be back soon."

"Alright. Stay safe."

With that, Commander Poe Dameron departed again and Signy watched him leave. She stayed in the hall until he disappeared around the corner. The reality of the situation hit her again. Poe Dameron was not invincible. None of them were.

Signy entered the shop again, screwdriver still clasped tightly in her hand.

"Where's Poe?" Zinc asked.

"He had to go." she said absently, before kneeling in front of BB-8. "I'm sorry BB-8, but he needed to leave. He said he'd be back for you soon."

BB-8 looked to the door sadly and let out a few beeping sounds.

"I know you usually fly with him. He didn't want you going out without your liquid cable launchers intact. He didn't think it was fair. You must understand he didn't leave because he wanted to go without you."

BB-8 rolled closer to the door. The image of the droid standing there nearly made Signy cry and she bit her lip. It hit so close to home. She knew what it was like to see people walk away and never come back. She hoped with all her heart that Poe Dameron would return soon and in one piece too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** _Hello! I haven't done an author's note on this story yet, so I figured I should. I hope you're enjoying the story so far and I apologize that this chapter is a tad shorter than the others. I have some news that will also be featured in the author's note of the next chapter of my other story. Some of you might be following along that story, A Resistance of Resent, or may have read my one-shot, but in the foreseeable future I plan to begin writing a new fanfiction featuring a different OC that will end up having some Poe/OC action as well as themes from my one-shot, which should be fun. That story will be a lot longer than this one and A Resistance of Resent, not really in terms of chapter length, but in terms of how many chapters it will be. These are my warm up fics preparing me to write the new one lol. I also have a poll on my profile for you to help me choose a name for my OC. Anyways, leave a review if you'd like to and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for your support and may the Force be with you. :)_

* * *

"Ready to hit the hay?" Zinc asked, stretching his arms after a long period of silent work and Signy jumped.

"You can go. I'm going to stay here for a while longer." she replied, still a bit shaken. She was so focused on her work she'd completely neglected to check what time it was.

"You sure? It's getting kind of late."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Signy looked up over her shoulder and offered a small smile to Zinc who stood towering above her, concerned look on his face and hands in his pockets as he shifted back and forth on his feet.

"If you say so." he answered, his voice almost singsongy as he headed toward the door.

Part of him wanted to insist upon staying for a while longer, but he knew she'd object. He was tired anyway. It obvious she had things on her mind. He'd tried talking to her a few times during the day, but she hadn't responded. Signy was lost in thought, he assumed, and he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to mention it. It was like talking to a sleepwalker. Waking them up could scare them, but leaving them to continue sleepwalking could easily result in them getting hurt. He would allow her to continue sleepwalking for now.

"Goodnight Zinc." she told him and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Goodnight Signy. Don't forget to wash that canteen later. I don't want your germs."

Signy shook her head and rolled her eyes, turning back to the droid she was repairing. The sound of the automatic doors opening and then closing again was almost a relief. Signy was tired and a hand rose to her face where her fingers pinched at the bridge of her nose.

The familiar sound of R2-LE rolling up next to her caused her to take her hand from her face. Signy sniffled, pulling her knees up close to her and hugging them. She leaned her cheek on her knees, eyes fixated on the droid.

"It's ok…" she said softly, eyes growing red. "I just miss my family tonight."

R2-LE chirped in response, coming closer to the girl. She reached out a hand to pat the droid.

"I meant my human family, but I'm happy to have you too." Signy smiled and another set of familiar droid sounds filled the quiet shop.

"BB-8?" Signy called out, eyebrows knitting together in concern. "I thought Zinc let you power off for the night. Please come out."

Another series of beeps filled the air.

"It's ok. Just come out. I understand."

The little droid slowly rolled out from his hiding place, giving a sad beep and coming up next to R2-LE.

"You miss your family too." she sighed. "I know. It'll be ok though. Poe's coming back; I promise."

BB-8 gave a hopeful reply and R2-LE gave encouragement to his new friend.

"He'll probably be back within the next day if everything goes smoothly. I know you're worried about him, but you know him. He's the best pilot we've got. Just believe in him." Signy told the droid, sitting up a bit and reaching over to close the toolbox next to her.

"It's really hard, I know, especially in a place like this." she began, nodding her head in the direction of the doors. "Everyone is always running around here. Everybody has something to worry about all the time because the worry never stops and the worry won't stop until the First Order is gone. The problem is you see someone one day and the next day they could be gone. None of us know what day's going to be our last. We have every right to worry, but the Resistance needs us to be strong."

Signy stopped and shook her head. "I know I sound like a hypocrite. I guess I need to stop crying about people I'll never see again. I have hope that Poe Dameron will make it back though. I can _feel_ it. He always comes back…"

Signy yawned and leaned her head forward on her knees again. She couldn't stop thinking about her family. There was something about the uncertainty in Poe's voice when he asked her to watch over BB-8 that resonated with her. It reminded her of them, her family, and she missed them.

Feelings of regret and sadness filled her sleepy head and tears welled up in her tired eyes again.

"You two can power off for the night." she said softly and the droids hesitantly did as they were told.

Signy's eyelids grew heavy and before she could get up, she drifted into a fitful sleep. Visions of the past floated through her dreams. She saw her family, but then she saw Poe Dameron, his dark eyes filled with worry. That look haunted her. She'd seen it before on other people. The people who had that look never returned.

The sound of gunshots rang in her ears and the screams of the dying got caught in her throat as she slept. There was no escaping the past, not even when she wasn't awake.

In the morning Zinc entered the droid repair center to find Signy passed out on the floor, torso draped over her knees and arms folded beneath her head. He was going to wake her up, but she looked so peaceful lying there with her eyes closed and mouth slightly open that he couldn't bring himself to. Instead he took off his coat and gently placed it over her shoulders. The shop was cold, especially early in the morning before the sun was out, and he didn't want her to catch a cold. The last thing he needed was to have her get sick. He couldn't run the shop without her.

He felt a twang of bitter dissatisfaction that she wasn't awake to see that he had arrived at work on time for once, but he figured he had plenty of time to tease her about it when she woke up. Now it was time to get to work.


End file.
